The present invention relates, generally, to techniques and systems for protecting designs and programs against reverse engineering and piracy and, more specifically, to methods and systems for preventing copying and cloning of such designs and programs.
Most designs include software that is protected electronically. A typical example is using a security bit to make reading code from a Flash ROM part in a microcontroller inaccessible to outside parts. The problem with this type of protection is that a common technique of parties trying to reverse engineer or copy the design is to pry open or file away the cover of the part and either dynamically or statically read out the memory contents. Accordingly, while the security bit provides protection against less rigorous reverse engineering techniques, it is not effective against a more determined pirate.
Accordingly, there continues to be a need for improving the security of such devices to prevent unauthorized access to designs and software code.